Indiana’s Looze Named Big Ten Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year
Indiana University head swimming coach Ray Looze was named the Big Ten Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year, the league office announced on Tuesday.
Looze, who became the first coach in Big Ten history to win both the men’s and women’s swimming coach of the year honors last season, is the first coach in conference history to repeat as both, as he was named Women’s Coach of the Year last week. Looze has now won Big Ten Swimming Coach of the Year honors a total of eight times – five for the men and three for the women.
Under Looze’s guidance, the Hoosiers placed seventh overall with a total of 229.5 points. The finish is the best for Indiana at a NCAA Championships since also placing seventh 38 years ago in 1979. The 229.5 points are the most for IU since scoring 274 in 1975. The top-10 finish for the Hoosiers at the NCAA Championships is the fifth in the last six years.
For the second-straight season, Indiana finished as the top Big Ten team at the NCAA Championships – the best stretch for IU since accomplishing the feat for 15-straight seasons from 1964-78.
Over the course of the meet, the Hoosiers had 13 individuals earn a total of 32 All-America honors – the most in program history in 42 years since the team tallied 36 in 1975.
In February, Looze helped guide the Hoosiers to the program’s 25th Big Ten championship in program history and the first for the team since 2006. IU won the team title with a total score of 1,504 points.
For the week, IU won a total of 19 medals – 12 gold, five silver and two bronze. Indiana also won four of the five relays at the Big Ten Championships, marking the first time in program history the team accomplished that impressive feat. The dozen league crowns are the most for the team since winning 13 in 1976.
Vini Lanza was named Swimmer of the Championships after winning four gold medals and one silver over the course of the week. The sophomore won gold in the 200 IM, 200 butterfly, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay. Lanza claimed silver in the 100 butterfly.
Joining Lanza and Hixon on the All-Big Ten First-Team were Marwan Elkamash, Ian Finnerty, Bob Glover, Ali Khalafalla, Blake Pieroni, Mohamed Samy and Anze Tavcar. Glover was also named Indiana’s recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
Indiana had one of the best meets in school history, as the Hoosiers totaled 14 school records, five Big Ten records, six Big Ten Meet records, seven pool records, 16 NCAA A cuts, 87 NCAA B cuts and 64 personal-best marks at the Big Ten Championships.
